Donald Trump Needed Notes Reminding Him To Listen In ‘Listening Session’ With Shooting Survivors

'I hear you.'
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Donald Trump has been criticised for appearing to need notes reminding him to say “I hear you” during a White House listening session on mass shootings.

Pictures of the President’s cue card from the event last night reveal five talking points, the first four being questions and the last prompting him to show some empathy to survivors of the massacre.

Donald Trump's prepared notes
Donald Trump's prepared notes
Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Whilst written cues are standard practice for practically anyone in any type of meeting, the final point raised more than a few eyebrows.

Trump needs notes to seem human. https://t.co/3jTUW8N69R

— Gissur Simonarson (@GissiSim) February 21, 2018

Trump has to have notes that remind him to have empathy and compassion. https://t.co/WLNdCxLo5u

— Jenna Mullins🤷🏼♀️ (@JBomb11) February 21, 2018

What I learned today: Trump needs crib notes to fake empathy.

— 🆁🅿🅼🅼🅰🆂 (@RPMMAS) February 21, 2018

So either Trump has dementia or he's so out of touch with average person that he needs notes to remind him to show compassion.

Either way, we are fucked.

— Pesach 'Pace' Lattin ⏺ (@pacelattin) February 22, 2018

Others saw nothing wrong with the note, suggesting it was necessary to avoid “even a minor misstep”.

This is why the media is losing. Why shouldn’t he hold notes? Guy wants to ask and say the right things, and knows he’ll get jumped on for even a minor misstep in this moment.

Besides, I thought we all preferred TelePrompTer Trump to the real thing... https://t.co/bxoj2Atd31

— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) February 21, 2018

So now Trump is being criticized for having notes at this listening session and trying to get something done, now liberals please remind me of what Obama’s listening session with the family and friends of survivors was like, I’ll wait. Trump cannot win no matter what!!!

— Josh (@jpdavis1982) February 21, 2018
President Obama wipes tears from his eyes during a press conference on the Sandy Hook shooting
President Obama wipes tears from his eyes during a press conference on the Sandy Hook shooting
Larry Downing / Reuters
President Obama hugs the mother of one of those killed during the Sandy Hook shooting
President Obama hugs the mother of one of those killed during the Sandy Hook shooting
Jason Reed / Reuters

Trump held an emotional, hour-long meeting with students who survived the Florida shooting earlier this month and a parent whose child did not.

He said arming teachers and other school staff could help prevent future mass shootings, voicing support for an idea backed by the National Rifle Association gun lobby, reports Reuters.

The Republican President, who has championed gun rights and was endorsed by the NRA during the 2016 campaign, said he would move quickly to tighten background checks for gun buyers and would consider raising the age for buying certain types of weapons.

The attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 students and educators were killed on 14 February, was the second-deadliest shooting at a US public school and has revived the long-running US debate over gun rights.

In Florida around the same time, a panel of students and teachers who survived the shooting, along with many parents of victims, voiced their frustrations and anger, along with their hopes for gun law reforms, during a town hall hosted by CNN.

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